[Molly Yeh] I'm putting together the tastiest lunch
inspired by the intersection of my favorite Asian treats and my favorite fast foods.
Yes, glossy town.
Juicy and succulent char siu rib sandwiches.
Now this is my fast food fantasy.
Indulgent bacon, egg and cheese fried rice.
It's rocking my world.
Chocolate taiyaki, the cutest waffles ever.
Yay!
And a refreshing strawberry bubble tea to cap off the meal.
That is one baller tea.
Buckle up, it's about to get delicious.
Oh, yum.
Yay!
Hey, this is me. Molly Yeh.
This is my husband, Nick.
This is our growing family.
And this is our home, our farm on the North Dakota Minnesota border.
The place where I eat, sleep and breathe food.
For a feast inspired by my love of Asian food and fast food,
I'm pit stopping all around Asia.
First up, China.
I am making my char siu rib sandwiches,
which are loaded with sweet, saucy barbecue pork
and topped with onions, mayo and pickles for crunch.
I think I'm going to need a napkin for this one.
I'm starting with two racks of baby back ribs, which are tender
and they're smaller, so they'll fit cutely onto a bun.
I'll cover them with a dry rub.
I'll get three tablespoons of brown sugar.
Char siu always has some sweetness.
I'll combine this with two teaspoons of kosher salt,
half a teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper.
And then a teaspoon and a half of Chinese five spice powder,
which is a defining flavor of char siu pork.
This powder is a combination of star anise, fennel, cloves,
Sichuan peppercorn and cinnamon,
so it's warm, it's got loads of that licorice flavor from the fennel and the anise.
I'll toss this together and then rub it on both sides of the ribs.
So char siu is a traditional style of Cantonese cooking
and it literally means fork-roasted,
because traditionally, it's cooked on a skewer.
I'm obviously not doing that this time,
but it's still going to have those delicious, sweet five spice notes.
And typically, I eat char siu chopped up in the middle of a steamed bun
but today, I'm doing a nod to those drive through, saucy, rib sandwiches
that we all love.
Whether or not we admit it in public.
I'll wrap the ribs tightly in foil so they steam.
I'll get these in the oven now,
low and slow at 325 degrees for about an hour and a half
until the meat is tender
and a quarter inch of the bones are starting to show.
And then after that, I'll remove the bones.
My ribs are bone-free. The bones were really easy to pull out of the meat,
since the meat is so tender.
And now the meat is ready for that signature, sweet, sticky sauce.
So for the sauce, I'm starting with red bean curd,
which is fermented soybean,
basically tofu that is swimming in a red brine.
When you smell it, you smell the cooking wine from the brine
and its redness comes from fermented red rice.
So when you add this to the sauce,
you're adding complexity, a little saltiness,
some great umami and of course, that signature red color.
So I'm adding these little cubes
as well as about a tablespoon of the sauce.
And of course, you can find this online or in Asian grocery stores.
I'll combine this with half a cup of hoisin sauce,
for loads of sweet saltiness.
Half a cup of soy sauce.
Half a cup of honey to balance the saltiness of the soy sauce.
A third of a cup of ketchup.
Can't have barbecue without ketchup.
A third of a cup of rice vinegar for that necessary acidity,
a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
for those dark, toasty notes,
half a teaspoon of kosher salt,
a teaspoon of Chinese five spice,
and lastly, I'll grate in two inches of fresh ginger,
which brightens the whole place up.
So I'll whisk this together and allow it to reduce for five minutes
until it's smooth and thick and saucy, like a barbecue sauce.
I remember making char siu when I was extremely pregnant with Bernie
and my hands were super swollen
but I needed to chop up this much char siu
to get into the center of steamed buns.
And by the end of chopping all of it,
my hands were just ready to fall off. The were in so much pain.
Ah, but it was worth it.
This is looking good.
So it's a lot of sauce.
I'm going to use some of it to brush onto the outside of the ribs,
so that it can get that great texture.
But then I have the remainder of it to serve with the sandwiches.
But since the ribs are cooked already, I don't have to worry about
sticking my brush in raw meat and putting it back in the sauce.
I'm a neurotic mom. I think about things like that.
I'll get these in the oven now at 475 degrees for five to seven minutes,
just so that this sauce can caramelize and get a little crisp,
and then I'll flip them over, glaze again and stick them back in the oven
so they can get that texture on the other side as well,
and then it'll be time to assemble.
Oh, baby.
Back ribs.
That is one of the all time great smells of this world.
Yes, glossy town.
USA? China? I don't know.
Oh, my gosh, what I do know is that those are beautiful.
Okay. To assemble, I've got my sesame seed buns here.
I'll mayo them on both sides with Japanese mayo, which is sweet and rich.
More mayo, more better.
And I'll top them with a hunk of meat.
Mmm, mmm, mmm.
Sticks the landing.
Oh, yeah.
It's so shiny.
And then top with sliced red onions
and bread and butter pickles for crunch.
The sweetness of the bread and butter pickles just fits the vibe.
Oh, yeah.
Top them,
and dunk them in extra sauce.
Please, join me on this journey.
Oh, my God.
Sorry, that's just, like, too good.
I think this is illegal.
That is the most tender meat.
It's sweet. It's saucy.
The little crunch from the pickle is the cherry on top.
This is my fast food fantasy.
Coming up, my number one top breakfast sandwich choice in fried rice form.
For a spoonable Asian twist
on my favorite fast food order of all time,
I am making bacon, egg and cheese fried rice.
It's salty, it's crispy, it's all under a blanket of melty cheddar cheese
and best eaten in gigantic sloppy shovels right into my mouth.
To start, I'm crisping up the bacon.
I do this first so that I can render out the fat,
and that's what I'm going to use
to cook both the eggs and the rice.
I'll transfer it to a wider rack
so that any excess grease can drip off,
and the rack versus a paper towel allows it to stay crispy.
And I'll pour the remaining fat into a heat-safe vessel
for cooking later.
I've got four eggs here. I'll give them a whip.
I think I make fried rice at least once a week. It's so easy.
I have all of the ingredients on hand at all times.
A few years ago, I started finishing it with melty cheese,
which just brought it to the next level.
You don't typically see dairy in Chinese food,
but I went off script and tried it,
and have never looked back.
All right. These are whipped.
I'd like a hard and fast scramble,
so I'll scramble these in this hot pan with the bacon fat
for just about a minute or two, until they are just set.
I'll remove them from the pan.
I'll season these eggs with a pinch of salt.
I'll add a bit more bacon fat since my pan is looking dry,
and then use it to cook a chopped yellow onion
and then some scallions.
I'll only cook the white and the light green parts at this point,
because they're tougher and they need that extra time.
I'll stir these around and allow them to get soft and fragrant.
Next, three cloves of finely-chopped garlic,
and then I'll grate in some fresh ginger,
which is a little ingredient that goes a long way
as far as the depth and excitement.
And this should just cook for about a minute.
I don't want to burn the garlic and the ginger.
So while this goes, I'll grab the rice, cheese and peas.
I've got a few cups of leftover short grain rice here.
It's really best to use leftover, day-old rice for fried rice,
because it's dried out a little bit,
which allows it more space to absorb flavor.
If you want to be a little healthy, you could do brown rice.
But this is a fast food feast. Who said anything about being healthy?
I'll break it up with my spatula
and start to get it warm throughout.
I'll sneak in some veggies. I'm going to toss in some frozen peas.
You could use fresh or frozen.
If you use frozen, they thaw almost immediately because they're so small.
I'll stir these in.
And to finish this off, I'll chop up the bacon and the eggs.
That's some good crispy bacon.
Toss everything together.
Spread it out in an even layer to get the bottom crispy.
And then cover with cheddar cheese
going all the way to the edges.
Mm.
Now, we'll stick this in the oven at 475 degrees,
just for a few minutes to get the cheese melty.
Oh, yeah. That is good and melty.
And there are crispy, cheesy bits around the edges.
I'll finish with a drizzle of sriracha.
Every good fried rice has a little heat.
I'll add the ketchup in private.
And my scallion greens.
Wow. That is one good looking fried rice.
I'm going to compose the perfect bite.
Bacon, some egg, crispy cheese,
and I'll dig to the bottom and get some crispy rice, too.
Here comes the shovel.
Mm.
Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Mm.
It's cheesy, it's bacony, it's eggy,
and the ginger in there, oh, yes.
This is rocking my world.
Next, dessert time.
My chocolate fish-shaped treat is fun to make and fun to eat.
For a dessert that'll make everyone smile, I'm heading to Japan.
These chocolate taiyaki are buttery, fluffy, fish-shaped waffles
that have melty chocolate bellies.
I'll make a chocolate ganache first, and then a waffle batter
and cook them together in this really cool, fish-shaped mold.
Technically, it's a really hot fish-shaped mold
but it's also cool.
All right. To start, I'm chopping up four ounces of chocolate.
I'm going to make a ganache, which will be moldable.
It'll make it easy to stuff into the bellies of the waffle.
But then, when the waffle cooks,
it'll melt down and get ooey and gooey in the center.
I have a double boiler here.
Just a heat safe bowl set over a pot of simmering water.
And I'll toss my chocolate in.
I'm cooking it in a double boiler
because I don't want the chocolate to overheat and seize up.
I'll combine this with a quarter cup of heavy cream,
which turns the chocolate into a smoother ganache.
Once it sets, it'll still be moldable.
Then I'll stir this around and allow it to melt gently.
So taiyaki is this popular street food in Japan.
Tai translates to a red sea bream,
which is this fish that symbolizes good luck in Japan,
and yaki just means cooked over an open heat source.
So fish waffle, essentially.
And usually they're filled with red bean paste,
but they can be filled with chocolate or custard or even savory fillings.
I'm going with chocolate today because Bernie loves waffles.
So she's going to go crazy for these,
'cause I don't think she's ever had a chocolate-filled waffle,
and she is a chocolate monster.
Okay, so now that this is melted together, I'll allow it to cool briefly
while I make my waffle batter.
I'll combine one and a quarter cups of all-purpose flour
with a quarter cup of sugar,
and a quarter cup of corn starch,
which will help the waffles get fluffy,
one and a half teaspoons of baking powder
and half a teaspoon of baking soda
will help the batter expand in the fish mold
and then half a teaspoon of kosher salt
and a quarter teaspoon of Chinese five spice.
This adds an extra bit of dimension
that you can't totally detect as five spice,
you just feel that there's more flavor there.
I'll get these combined.
Okay. I'll mix up my wet ingredients.
I've got three quarters of a cup of buttermilk.
The acidity in this will react with the baking soda and the dry ingredients
to help the waffles get fluffy.
And I'll zest in half of an orange.
I'll crack in an egg,
splash in some vanilla,
and I'll whisk this up.
I'll pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
I'll get this just combined.
I don't want to over mix this because that's how the waffles will stay fluffy.
I'll whisk in some melted butter, this is a quarter cup.
That'll just add that great richness.
It also helps achieve the crispy outer shell of the waffle.
I'll mix this in.
Mm.
The buttermilk and the orange and the five spice together smell delicious.
That's it for my batter.
I'm going to allow this to sit for about 30 minutes now
just to allow the dry ingredients to hydrate.
And in that time, I'll also chill the ganache
so that it can get firm enough for me to roll it into balls.
I've got my super cool fish-shaped waffle mold.
It's non-stick and it goes right on top of the stove.
I'll get this preheating over medium low
while I melt some butter for brushing the molds.
I'll brush both sides, bottom and top, with some butter.
You could do a non-stick spray here,
but I mean, the butter tastes better, you get more of it,
so you get more crispiness.
This is ready to fill.
I'll scoop in batter,
enough to fill up the bottom part most of the way.
Oh, I smell that five spice.
And I'll kind of nudge it into the tail.
And I'll take a little piece of chocolate ganache
and flatten it out just slightly
so it doesn't poke out of the fish
and stick it in the belly.
So it's kind of firm now, but as it cooks and heats up, it'll get melty.
I'll add a little more batter on top of the chocolate to cover it up
and then close up the mold
and press it down
and allow it to cook on this side for a few minutes until it's golden and crisp.
So the first time I had this was actually in Korea.
I went there in high school with my sister and my dad and it was so much fun.
It was my first time ever in Asia, and we saw these on the streets,
and had to get some because they looked so gosh darned cute.
I still have a picture.
I wore really embarrassing eyeliner. I think I had bangs, too.
We don't have to talk about that.
Ooh.
They're looking good.
I'll give it a flip and continue cooking
so that the other side can brown.
Oh, I'm smelling that butter.
Next on the agenda is to make unfilled taiyaki
and then cut off the heads and put ice cream in them.
I see that on the internet sometimes.
I think they're ready.
Yay!
I'll get them out of the mold.
And they come out pretty easily.
These are heavy little fish.
Okay, I'll keep on cooking these up.
He's looking at me.
Mm.
I'm definitely getting that orange zest.
The butter, both on the shell and in the batter is so tasty.
And that chocolate melty belly is awesome.
I can safely say I have never had a fish this darned sweet.
Still to come, a beautiful bubble tea that you can make easily at home.
No drive through order is complete without a sweet shake,
but I'll do you one better and whip up a strawberry milk bubble tea.
It's sweet and fruity and a little creamy
and it's so much fun to drink because it's got those chewy tapioca balls,
which are actually really easy to just order online
or find at an international grocery store.
When they come, they're hard and dehydrated,
so all you have to do to prepare them
is boil them in some water until they get chewy.
It is important, you don't want to do this until right before you serve,
because if you stick them back in the refrigerator,
they could start to firm up again.
I love these little guys.
I'll spoon these into the bottom of my glasses.
I like a lot of them.
I used to make a lot of bubble tea when I first moved here,
because when I got here, I realized,
the closest Chinatown is in another country.
So I ordered these balls online
and then Nick actually made me one of those fat boba straws
out of metal, out in the workshop
and then I drank it and then we realized,
wait, maybe we should have figured out if that metal was food safe.
I'm still here.
My sister and I would get bubble tea all the time growing up,
when we would go down to Chinatown
and it started off as just something that only she was into
and I was a little nervous about trying the tapioca pearls,
but then when I finally tried them, I realized,
okay, this is really just a fun, textural experience.
And next, I'll pour in my strawberry syrup,
which is a little floral from some jasmine and it's super easy to make,
I dissolve honey and water together over a low heat
and then drop in a few floral jasmine teabags and seep.
Remove the bags.
Add in fresh strawberries.
And a pinch of salt.
And then bring everything to a boil,
and cook until the mixture is syrupy,
strain it,
and chill the syrup.
And you can use this in cocktails or mocktails, too.
It's really lovely.
Okay, I'll pour in about a quarter cup of it.
And fill these glasses up the rest of the way with some milk.
You can use any milk, here. I'm using whole milk, 'cause it's rich.
And this is really all to taste.
So if you didn't want it to be too sweet,
you could just add a little of the syrup.
That looks pretty in pink to me.
I'll give these a stir.
Mm, mm, mm.
Nice.
Mm. Oh, yeah.
Oh, I love the jasmine in there.
It's that extra little something something.
That is one baller tea.
All right. I'm hungry.